How do you make big decisions?

Brer Fox

People tell me to pray about it. I do, but I'm no further on. How do I know what God wants me to do? There is a big decision I have to make this week and I am not sure what to do. How do you figure out what God wants you to do? I'm quite risk-averse - I like to know as much as possible before committing to anything, but it's not always possible to know everything before you commit to a course of action. They say 'pray about it' - but all I hear is silence, and I'm left to my own wonderment and confusion.

Motorist

Pray to Jesus as you call heads or tails and flip a coin. He will control how it lands, and that will guide you on the righteous pathway.

Onesimus

When St.Peter crossed the water to Jesus he lost his trust in Jesus and then he sank. So trust in Jesus and pray pray pray to him and Our Lady.

He allowed St.Peter to fall in order that he be humbled by the experience and cry out to Jesus more.

So sometimes Jesus will allow us to make a wrong decision in a bid to humble us and bring us closer to him. and sometimes he allows it because we just have not prayed properly.

Brer Fox

Coins and permitting wrong decisions isn't doing it for me, I'm afraid. Anything better?

Onesimus

Brer Fox wrote: »

Coins and permitting wrong decisions isn't doing it for me, I'm afraid. Anything better?

I dont know...asking God for a sign is a kind of ...lack of trust in his providence dont you think?

I suppose you could say ''Lord, if it be your Divine and Holy will, please reveal to me in some way the course of action I must undertake with regards to a big decision I must make. Worthless wretch that I am and unworthy of a response, but I make my plea not for my own glory but for Your Glory alone.''

Be like the widow in the Gospel who kept asking until she got what she wanted. Don't give up. Already your post is a sure sign of someone who has given up asking and now resorted to lean on a human shoulder as opposed the Divine one.

Your not alone there, I do this often myself

dvae

god gave us the most important gift of all, free will.
why not make the best informed decision for yourself, and then pray for help and guidance a long the way.
sometimes god dose not answer our prayers the way we want them to be answered, but instead gives us the strength to endure and over come our trials our selfs.

Jeremiah 29:13
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

martinedwards

when you pray and ask for guidance, do you then shut up and wait for an answer?

it's something I had to learn to do, rather than rabbiting on like |Mrs Doyle "go on go on go on go on go on go on" stop and listen. chill and let God reach out to you.

its unlikely that you'll hear trumpet fanfares or have a vision of some saint from 300 years go, but you might just get a sense of peace about the decision, one way or the other.

PDN

I believe it was John Wesley who said something along the lines that he would pray for guidance from God, and that God usually answered his prayer by making him think of good reasons why he should take one course of action rather than another.

I often find the following course of action works well:

1. Pray for God to guide you by His Holy Spirit.

2. Look at your different options and ask if one of them is supported by Scriptural principles, or if one of them involves compromising your moral integrity. Reject any choice that is anti-biblical or dodgy.

3. Look at the logical reasons for each proposed course of action, and the likely results. Pick the most sensible choice.

4. Talk to godly people that you trust. Their advice won't be infallible - but it often helps.

5. Pray again. Say to God, "Lord, I think this particular course of action is the way I should go. But if I'm making a mistake or hearing You wrong then please block anything that is not your will for my life."

Doc Farrell

Everybody makes mistakes and everybody has troubles. It's essential as an adult to take 100% responsibility for your own life. Otherwise down the road God gets the blame for actions we took!
1. Get a pen and paper
2. Write down all the pros and cons of the decision.
3. Can u afford it financially? If u can't then don't do it. Debt will triple your stress levels.
4. Take small steps each day. There's no need to make huge life changing decisions when most actions can be taken incrementally.
5. You will make mistakes. Life will thrown big problems at you. That's just the way life is. Deal with them.
6. Talk to real people who have already dealt with the decisions you have to make. Make sure they are wise and not fruitcakes.

You can pm me if you want I'll give you specific advice but the advice I'm likely to give you is that if you can't afford it then don't do it.

philologos

OP: Prayer is abundantly useful. We also need to realise that the more and more we're understanding and dwelling in Biblical principles, we can use these principles to make sound and wise decisions.

Remember in the Lord's Prayer we hear: "Your will be done". A question I have to ask myself is do I really believe that? When I pray do I really mean "my will be done"?

Sometimes God mightn't give you the answer that you initially want to hear. Essentially what we should be asking is, God show me what will glorify you. Show me what you think is best. It's important to remember that God's word in Scripture can be a means by which He can speak to us. We shouldn't think that just because we don't hear audible voices that God can't speak to us. He's provided many ways of doing this.

mach1982

Brer Fox wrote: »

People tell me to pray about it. I do, but I'm no further on. How do I know what God wants me to do? There is a big decision I have to make this week and I am not sure what to do. How do you figure out what God wants you to do? I'm quite risk-averse - I like to know as much as possible before committing to anything, but it's not always possible to know everything before you commit to a course of action. They say 'pray about it' - but all I hear is silence, and I'm left to my own wonderment and confusion.

I just say " God let your will be done not mine ". If meant to happen it will happen

Manach

Being slightly flippant, if it is a major decision I'd use standard engineering diagrams; such as flow charts, decision trees, activity diagrams etc. to chart the various outcomes (+ a brief prayer to God to hope for the best and guard against the perils of unknowns/unknowns.)

shizz

Weigh the pro's and cons then choose?